Kayla Grantham and Northern have turned the third-base bag and are safe in the Xcellent 25.

No. 1-ranked Palm Beach Gardens fended off one of the best teams in the country last week to maintain its spot on top of the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Softball Rankings.

The Gators took on Poland Seminary, last year's Division II champion in Ohio, and captured a 2-0 win. Poland Seminary has one of the top pitchers in the country in Erin Gabriel, who played on Team USA over the summer. However Gabriel only pitched in the latter innings against Palm Beach Gardens.

The day before, Gabriel had pitched a marathon outing against American Heritage (Delray Beach, Fla.), going 16 innings and striking out 34 batters in a 2-1 victory. Poland Seminary also bounced back from its loss to Palm Beach Gardens to beat American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) and finish 2-1 on its spring break tour of the Sunshine State.

There are very few changes in this week's rankings due to spring break, which resulted in a number of teams being idle.

Only two new members jump on to this week's list and both have win streaks of longer than 30 games. Beech (Hendersonville, Tenn.) returns to the rankings after winning its third tournament of the season and collecting its 32nd-straight win.

Meanwhile, Northern (Owings, Md.) has not lost a game in two years and has a 37-game win streak. The Patriots debut at No. 17 while Beech enters at No. 12.

3. (3) Alexander Central (Taylorsville, N.C.), 16-1Chelsea Wilkinson won her 100th career game (100-5) with an 8-1 win over defending South Carolina 4A state champion J.L. Mann. Wilkinson also picked up her 72nd career shutout and allowed an infield single for the only hit of the game.4. (4) Norco (Calif.), 18-1Norco won its only game of the week, 6-0 over Poly (Riverside), with Emily Lockman throwing a three-hitter with eight strikeouts.

7. (8) Topsail (Hampstead, N.C.), 18-0That's two more shutouts for Topsail, which has 14 on the year. Topsail defeated West Brunswick 21-0 and Richmond 12-0. Summer Darnell had a home run in the win over West Brunswick. Blair Lawrence was 3-for-3 with a triple and four runs scored in the championship game of the Beach Diamond Tournament against Richmond.

8. (9) Walla Walla (Wash.), 8-0Alyson Ambler was 4-for-9 with two doubles and two home runs in a doubleheader sweep of Chiawana, 9-0 and 21-1. She also picked up both pitching victories.

11. (12) Poland Seminary (Ohio), 7-1Erin Gabriel struck out 34 batters in a 16-inning 2-1 win over American Heritage (Delray Beach, Fla.) during Poland Seminary's tour of Florida. The Bulldogs lost to No. 1 ranked Palm Beach Gardens 2-0 (with Gabriel not starting the game in the circle) and then defeated American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) 2-1.12. (NR) Beech (Hendersonville, Tenn.), 38-1The winner of 32 straight games, Beech won its third-straight tournament, capturing the Franklin/Sonic Tournament with an 8-0 win over Wilson Central. Alex Banks raised her season record to 36-1 with the win.

13. (13) Tomball (Texas), 17-2The Cougars avenged an earlier loss to Klein Collins with a 12-6 victory that included seven runs in the top of the 11th inning. Lexie Comeaux had two home runs in the win and Kiana Workman had one.

14. (14) Alvin (Texas), 29-3Alvin won twice in district play last week, beating Clear Springs 9-1 and Clear Lake 9-1.

15. (15) The Woodlands (Texas), 21-3The Highlanders remained undefeated in district play with a 16-3 win over Oak Ridge and a 4-2 win over Kingwood. Jessica Snyder belted her seventh home run of the season against Oak Ridge.

16. (16) Porter Ridge (Indian Trail, N.C.), 18-0Porter Ridge did not have any games scheduled for last week.17. (NR) Northern (Owings, Md.), 10-0The Patriots won their 37th-straight game and defeated Bishop O'Connell (Arlington, Va.), which had been ranked No. 2 in the Washington D.C. metro area, 2-1.